The Sketchbook Comedy Show, Part Deux
Created by The Galloping Coconuts Productions Youth
Produced by The Galloping Coconuts Productions, Cornwall
Review by Brian Carroll
55 min / G / Imrpov, Play, Sketch, Comedy, Puppet, Family / Violence, Abrupt loud noise, Cartoon-ish weapons
Hemingway said, “Write what you know.” These 14- to 18-year olds from the Cornwall region seem to know the Diefenbunker and dairy farming.
In the top secret Diefenbunker, workers operated on a need-to-know basis. They had to memorize the path to/from their desks. There were no pillar numbers.
The first sketch is like the Diefenbunker. People know only what they need for their job. Few know the big picture.
An interviewer questions a job applicant for a position in a top secret military facility. Even the interviewer’s boss doesn’t know what the facility actually does. The interviewer asks questions but doesn’t wait for the applicant’s answers. The facility is so secret, are the answers even relevant?
Banner image for The Sketchbook Comedy Show, Part Deux. Photo provided.
The applicant is cagey. She claims to be an ex-CIA assassin. She is in danger after assassinating a dictator. She hid from the revengeful army by erasing all her records. Is she telling the truth?
Security is lax. The interviewer brings his teenage son to the interview. It’s “Bring your kid to work day.” The head of research reveals that the facility houses zombies.
A common theme of the rest of the sketches is dairy farming. A dairy farmer’s wife has a tearful confession. Not adultery. That they’re not cousins. Rather, she’s lactose intolerant.
In other sketches, a veterinarian diagnoses a farmer’s dog with a bowel obstruction from being fed too much cheese. During an alien invasion, a dating couple ignore the aliens and argue because he won’t talk about anything but dairy farming.
The writers have drawn inspiration from Monty Python and You Can’t do That on Television. The writing is sophomoric but funny. The acting is inexperienced. But the cast show potential. Some will eventually be on our theatre stages.
Besides, who knew there are so many dairy jokes?
The Sketchbook Comedy Show, Part Deux played at LabO from June 22–23. Visit the Ottawa Fringe Festival’s website for the show’s schedule and check out their online schedule here.
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